Britain’s new tennis hope trained by grandmother too ill to watch him on Centre Court

He said: “As a former tennis player and coach who worked with many top national players, it was devastating for me and my family to see my grandmother’s condition deteriorate.

“Nana was one of my biggest supporters growing up and I have always been very close to her, but this is a disease which completely takes away the person you knew.

“My Pa, who is Nana’s main carer, still brings her to the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton to watch me train, but she doesn’t know who I am.

“And if my tennis matches are on TV, he will tell Nana it’s me but it doesn’t register with her anymore.”

Draper is carrying the burden of Britain’s hopes this year in the men’s singles after Andy Murray bowed out with a back injury following days of speculation about whether he would continue or not.

Meanwhile, Katie Boulter, the British no1 in Women’s singles, trounced Germany’s Tatjana Maria, all the while watched on by her grandfather, Brian Gartshore and mother, Sue.

Last year she dedicated her victory over the Czech Republic’s Karolína Plíšková, a former world No1, to her grandmother, Jill Gartshore, a regional tennis champion who had died only two days before the match.

Many in the Centre Court crowd, which included Mary Berry, had wept as she spoke of her heartbreak.

She said: “[Jill’s] favourite tournament was Wimbledon. “That’s why it’s a special one for me. She’d watch every single match that was on the TV.”

“She’s always someone who’s been right into tennis from stage one. She lives just down the road from the tennis club.

“That’s the tennis club that I started playing tennis at – Leicestershire is very close to my heart.